It is a high honor again to present to the Congress my views on the
state of the Union and to recommend measures to advance the security, prosperity,
and well-being of the American people.

All branches of this Government--and I venture to say both of our great
parties--can support the general objective of the recommendations I make
today, for that objective is the building of a stronger America. A nation
whose every citizen has good reason for bold hope; where effort is rewarded
and prosperity is shared; where freedom expands and peace is secure--that
is what I mean by a stronger America.

Toward this objective a real momentum has been developed during this
Administration's first year in office. We mean to continue that momentum
and to increase it. We mean to build a better future for this nation.

Much for which we may be thankful has happened during the past year.

First of all we are deeply grateful that our sons no longer die on the
distant mountains of Korea. Although they are still called from our homes
to military service, they are no longer called to the field of battle.

The nation has just completed the most prosperous year in its history.
The damaging effect of inflation on the wages, pensions, salaries and savings
of us all has been brought under control. Taxes have begun to go down.
The cost of our government has been reduced and its work proceeds with
some 183,000 fewer employees; thus the discouraging trend of modern governments
toward their own limitless expansion has in our case been reversed. The
cost of armaments becomes less oppressive as we near our defense goals;
yet we are militarily stronger every day. During the year, creation of
the new Cabinet Department of Health, Education, and Welfare symbolized
the government's permanent concern with the human problems of our citizens.

Segregation in the armed forces and other Federal activities is on the
way out. We have also made progress toward its elimination in the District
of Columbia. These are steps in the continuing effort to eliminate inter-racial
difficulty.

Some developments beyond our shores have been equally encouraging. Communist
aggression, halted in Korea, continues to meet in Indo-china the vigorous
resistance of France and the Associated States, assisted by timely aid
from our country. In West Germany, in Iran, and in other areas of the world,
heartening political victories have been won by the forces of stability
and freedom. Slowly but surely, the free world gathers strength. Meanwhile,
from behind the iron curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble
and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard.

There has been in fact a great strategic change in the world during
the past year. That precious intangible, the initiative, is becoming ours.
Our policy, not limited to mere reaction against crises provoked by others,
is free to develop along lines of our choice not only abroad, but also
at home. As a major theme for American policy during the coming year, let
our joint determination be to hold this new initiative and to use it.

We shall use this initiative to promote three broad purposes: First,
to protect the freedom of our people; second, to maintain a strong, growing
economy; third, to concern ourselves with the human problems of the individual
citizen.

Only by active concern for each of these purposes can we be sure that
we are on the forward road to a better and a stronger America. All my recommendations
today are in furtherance of these three purposes.

I. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

American freedom is threatened so long as the world Communist conspiracy
exists in its present scope, power and hostility. More closely than ever
before, American freedom is interlocked with the freedom of other people.
In the unity of the free world lies our best chance to reduce the Communist
threat without war. In the task of maintaining this unity and strengthening
all its parts, the greatest responsibility falls naturally on those who,
like ourselves, retain the most freedom and strength.

We shall, therefore, continue to advance the cause of freedom on foreign
fronts.

In the Far East, we retain our vital interest in Korea. We have negotiated
with the Republic of Korea a mutual security pact, which develops our security
system for the Pacific and which I shall promptly submit to the Senate
for its consent to ratification. We are prepared to meet any renewal of
armed aggression in Korea. We shall maintain indefinitely our bases in
Okinawa. I shall ask the Congress to authorize continued material assistance
to hasten the successful conclusion of the struggle in Indo-china. This
assistance will also bring closer the day when the Associated States may
enjoy the independence already assured by France. We shall also continue
military and economic aid to the Nationalist Government of China.

In South Asia, profound changes are taking place in free nations which
are demonstrating their ability to progress through democratic methods.
They provide an inspiring contrast to the dictatorial methods and backward
course of events in Communist China. In these continuing efforts, the free
peoples of South Asia can be assured of the support of the United States.

In the Middle East, where tensions and serious problems exist, we will
show sympathetic and impartial friendship.

In Western Europe our policy rests firmly on the North Atlantic Treaty.
It will remain so based as far ahead as we can see. Within its organization,
the building of a united European community, including France and Germany,
is vital to a free and self-reliant Europe. This will be promoted by the
European Defense Community which offers assurance of European security.
With the coming of unity to Western Europe, the assistance this Nation
can render for the security of Europe and the free world will be multiplied
in effectiveness.

In the Western Hemisphere we shall continue to develop harmonious and
mutually beneficial cooperation with our neighbors. Indeed, solid friendship
with all our American neighbors is a cornerstone of our entire policy.

In the world as a whole, the United Nations, admittedly still in a state
of evolution, means much to the United States. It has given uniquely valuable
services in many places where violence threatened. It is the only real
world forum where we have the opportunity for international presentation
and rebuttal. It is a place where the nations of the world can, if they
have the will, take collective action for peace and justice. It is a place
where the guilt can be squarely assigned to those who fail to take all
necessary steps to keep the peace. The United Nations deserves our continued
firm support.

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AND TRADE

In the practical application of our foreign policy, we enter the field
of foreign assistance and trade.

Military assistance must be continued. Technical assistance must be
maintained. Economic assistance can be reduced. However, our economic programs
in Korea and in a few other critical places of the world are especially
important, and I shall ask Congress to continue them in the next fiscal
year.

The forthcoming Budget Message will propose maintenance of the Presidential
power of transferability of all assistance funds and will ask authority
to merge these funds with the regular defense funds. It will also propose
that the Secretary of Defense have primary responsibility for the administration
of foreign military assistance in accordance with the policy guidance of
the Secretary of State.

The fact that we can now reduce our foreign economic assistance in many
areas is gratifying evidence that its objectives are being achieved. By
continuing to surpass her prewar levels of economic activity, Western Europe
gains self-reliance. Thus our relationship enters a new phase which can
bring results beneficial to our taxpayers and our allies alike, if still
another step is taken.

This step is the creation of a healthier and freer system of trade and
payments within the free world--a system in which our allies can earn their
own way and our own economy can continue to flourish. The free world can
no longer afford the kinds of arbitrary restraints on trade that have continued
ever since the war. On this problem I shall submit to the Congress detailed
recommendations, after our Joint Commission on Foreign Economic Policy
has made its report.

ATOMIC ENERGY PROPOSAL

As we maintain our military strength during the coming year and draw
closer the bonds with our allies, we shall be in an improved position to
discuss outstanding issues with the Soviet Union. Indeed we shall be glad
to do so whenever there is a reasonable prospect of constructive results.
In this spirit the atomic energy proposals of the United States were recently
presented to the United Nations General Assembly. A truly constructive
Soviet reaction will make possible a new start toward an era of peace,
and away from the fatal road toward atomic war.

DEFENSE

Since our hope is peace, we owe ourselves and the world a candid explanation
of the military measures we are taking to make that peace secure.

As we enter this new year, our military power continues to grow. This
power is for our own defense and to deter aggression. We shall not be aggressors,
but we and our allies have and will maintain a massive capability to strike
back.

Here are some of the considerations in our defense planning:

First, while determined to use atomic power to serve the usages of peace,
we take into full account our great and growing number of nuclear weapons
and the most effective means of using them against an aggressor if they
are needed to preserve our freedom. Our defense will be stronger if, under
appropriate security safeguards, we share with our allies certain knowledge
of the tactical use of our nuclear weapons. I urge the Congress to provide
the needed authority.

Second, the usefulness of these new weapons creates new relationships
between men and materials. These new relationships permit economies in
the use of men as we build forces suited to our situation in the world
today. As will be seen from the Budget Message on January 21, the airpower
of our Navy and Air Force is receiving heavy emphasis.

Fourth, our defense must rest on trained manpower and its most economical
and mobile use. A professional corps is the heart of any security organization.
It is necessarily the teacher and leader of those who serve temporarily
in the discharge of the obligation to help defend the Republic. Pay alone
will not retain in the career service of our armed forces the necessary
numbers of long-term personnel. I strongly urge, therefore, a more generous
use of other benefits important to service morale. Among these are more
adequate living quarters and family housing units and medical care for
dependents.

Studies of military manpower have just been completed by the National
Security Training Commission and a Committee appointed by the Director
of the Office of Defense Mobilization. Evident weaknesses exist in the
state of readiness and organization of our reserve forces. Measures to
correct these weaknesses will be later submitted to the Congress.

Fifth, the ability to convert swiftly from partial to all-out mobilization
is imperative to our security. For the first time, mobilization officials
know what the requirements are for 1,000 major items needed for military
uses. These data, now being related to civilian requirements and our supply
potential, will show us the gaps in our mobilization base. Thus we shall
have more realistic plant-expansion and stockpiling goals. We shall speed
their attainment. This Nation is at last to have an up-to-date mobilization
base--the foundation of a sound defense program.

Another part of this foundation is, of course, our continental transport
system. Some of our vital heavy materials come increasingly from Canada.
Indeed our relations with Canada, happily always close, involve more and
more the unbreakable ties of strategic interdependence. Both nations now
need the St. Lawrence Seaway for security as well as for economic reasons.
I urge the Congress promptly to approve our participation in its construction.

Sixth, military and non-military measures for continental defense must
be and are being strengthened. In the current fiscal year we are allocating
to these purposes an increasing portion of our effort, and in the next
fiscal year we shall spend nearly a billion dollars more for them than
in 1953.

An indispensable part of our continental security is our civil defense
effort. This will succeed only as we have the complete cooperation of State
Governors, Mayors, and voluntary citizen groups. With their help we can
advance a cooperative program which, if an attack should come, would save
many lives and lessen destruction.

The defense program recommended in the 1955 Budget is consistent with
all of the considerations which I have just discussed. It is based on a
new military program unanimously recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and approved by me following consideration by the National Security Council.
This new program will make and keep America strong in an age of peril.
Nothing should bar its attainment.

The international and defense policies which I have outlined will enable
us to negotiate from a position of strength as we hold our resolute course
toward a peaceful world. We now turn to matters which are normally characterized
as domestic, well realizing that what we do abroad affects every problem
at home--from the amount of taxes to our very state of mind.

INTERNAL SECURITY

Under the standards established for the new employee security program,
more than 2,200 employees have been separated from the Federal government.
Our national security demands that the investigation of new employees and
the evaluation of derogatory information respecting present employees be
expedited and concluded at the earliest possible date. I shall recommend
that the Congress provide additional funds where necessary to speed these
important procedures.

From the special employment standards of the Federal government I turn
now to a matter relating to American citizenship. The subversive character
of the Communist Party in the United States has been clearly demonstrated
in many ways, including court proceedings. We should recognize by law a
fact that is plain to all thoughtful citizens-that we are dealing here
with actions akin to treason--that when a citizen knowingly participates
in the Communist conspiracy he no longer holds allegiance to the United
States.

I recommend that Congress enact legislation to provide that a citizen
of the United States who is convicted in the courts of hereafter conspiring
to advocate the overthrow of this government by force or violence be treated
as having, by such act, renounced his allegiance to the United States and
forfeited his United States citizenship.

In addition, the Attorney General will soon appear before your Committees
to present his recommendations for needed additional legal weapons with
which to combat subversion in our country and to deal with the question
of claimed immunity.

II. STRONG ECONOMY

I turn now to the second great purpose of our government: Along with
the protection of freedom, the maintenance of a strong and growing economy.

The American economy is one of the wonders of the world. It undergirds
our international position, our military security, and the standard of
living of every citizen. This Administration is determined to keep our
economy strong and to keep it growing.

At this moment we are in transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy.
I am confident that we can complete this transition without serious interruption
in our economic growth. But we shall not leave this vital matter to chance.
Economic preparedness is fully as important to the nation as military preparedness.

Subsequent special messages and the economic report on January 28 will
set forth plans of the Administration and its recommendations for Congressional
action. These will include flexible credit and debt management policies;
tax measures to stimulate consumer and business spending; suitable lending,
guaranteeing, insuring, and grant-in-aid activities; strengthened old-age
and unemployment insurance measures; improved agricultural programs; public-works
plans laid well in advance; enlarged opportunities for international trade
and investment. This mere enumeration of these subjects implies the vast
amount of study, coordination, and planning, to say nothing of authorizing
legislation, that altogether make our economic preparedness complete.

If new conditions arise that require additional administrative or legislative
action, the Administration will still be ready. A government always ready,
as this is, to take well-timed and vigorous action, and a business community
willing, as ours is, to plan ,boldly and with confidence, can between them
develop a climate assuring steady economic growth.

THE BUDGET

I shall submit to the Congress on January 21 the first budget prepared
by this Administration, for the period July 1, 1954, through June 1955.
This budget is adequate to the current needs of the government. It recognizes
that a Federal budget should be a stabilizing factor in the economy. Its
tax and expenditure programs will foster individual initiative and economic
growth.

Pending the transmittal of my Budget Message, I shall mention here only
a few points about our budgetary situation.

First, one of our initial acts was to revise, with the cooperation of
the Congress, the Budget prepared before this Administration took office.
Requests for new appropriations were greatly reduced. In addition, the
spending level provided in that Budget for the current fiscal year has
been reduced by about $7,000,000,000. In the next fiscal year we estimate
a further reduction in expenditures of more than $5,000,000,000. This will
reduce the spending level over the two fiscal years by more than $12,000,000,000.
We are also reducing further our requests for new appropriations.

Second, despite the substantial loss of revenue in the coming fiscal
year, resulting from tax reductions now in effect and tax adjustments which
I shall propose, our reduced spending will move the new budget closer to
a balance.

Third, by keeping new appropriation requests below estimated revenues,
we continue to reduce the tremendous accumulation of unfinanced obligations
incurred by the Government under past appropriations.

Fourth, until those claims on our Government's revenues are further
reduced, the growth in the public debt cannot be entirely stopped. Because
of this--because the government's bills have to be paid every month, while
the tax money to pay them comes in with great unevenness within the fiscal
year--and because of the need for flexibility to manage this enormous debt,
I find it necessary to renew my request for an increase in the statutory
debt limit.

TAXES

The new budget provides for a lower level of taxation than has prevailed
in preceding years. Six days ago individual income taxes were reduced and
the excess profits tax expired. These tax reductions are justified only
because of the substantial reductions we already have made and are making
in governmental expenditures. As additional reductions in expenditures
are brought gradually but surely into sight, further reductions in taxes
can and will be made. When budget savings and sound governmental financing
are assured, tax burdens should be reduced so that taxpayers may spend
their own money in their own way.

While we are moving toward lower levels of taxation we must thoroughly
revise our whole tax system. The groundwork for this revision has already
been laid by the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives,
in close consultation with the Department of the Treasury. We should now
remove the more glaring tax inequities, particularly on small taxpayers;
reduce restraints on the growth of small business; and make other changes
that will encourage initiative, enterprise and production. Twenty-five
recommendations toward these ends will be contained in my budget message.

Without attempting to summarize these manifold reforms, I can here illustrate
their tendency. For example, we propose more liberal tax treatment for
dependent children who work, for widows or widowers with dependent children,
and for medical expenses. For the business that wants to expand or modernize
its plant, we propose liberalized tax treatment of depreciation, research
and development expenses, and retained earnings.

Because of the present need for revenue the corporation income tax should
be kept at the current rate of 52% for another year, and the excise taxes
scheduled to be reduced on April first, including those on liquor, tobacco,
gasoline and automobiles, should be continued at present rates.

Immediate extension of the Renegotiation Act of 1951 is also needed
to eliminate excessive profits and to prevent waste of public funds in
the purchase of defense materials.

AGRICULTURE

The well being of our 160 million people demands a stable and prosperous
agriculture. Conversely, every farmer knows he cannot prosper unless all
America prospers. As we seek to promote increases in our standard of living,
we must be sure that the farmer fairly shares in that increase. Therefore,
a farm program promoting stability and prosperity in all elements of our
agriculture is urgently needed.

Agricultural laws now in effect successfully accomplished their wartime
purpose of encouraging maximum production of many crops. Today, production
of these crops at such levels far exceeds present demand. Yet the laws
encouraging such production are still in effect. The storage facilities
of the Commodity Credit Corporation bulge with surplus stocks of dairy
products, wheat, cotton, corn, and certain vegetable oils; and the Corporation's
presently authorized borrowing authority--$6,750,000,000--is nearly exhausted.
Some products, priced out of domestic markets, and others, priced out of
world markets, have piled up in government hands. In a world in which millions
of people are hungry, destruction of food would, of course, be unconscionable.
Yet surplus stocks continue to threaten the market and in spite of the
acreage controls authorized by present law, surpluses will continue to
accumulate.

We confront two alternatives. The first is to impose still greater acreage
reductions for some crops and apply rigid Federal controls over the use
of the diverted acres. This will regiment the production of every basic
agricultural crop. It will place every producer of those crops under the
domination and control of the Federal government in Washington. This alternative
is contrary to the fundamental interests, not only of the farmer, but of
the Nation as a whole. Nor is it a real solution to the problem facing
us.

The second alternative is to permit the market price for these agricultural
products gradually to have a greater influence on the planning of production
by farmers, while continuing the assistance of the government. This is
the sound approach. To make it effective, surpluses existing when the new
program begins must be insulated from the normal channels of trade for
special uses. These uses would include school lunch programs, disaster
relief, emergency assistance to foreign friends, and of particular importance
the stockpiling of reserves for a national emergency.

Building on the agricultural laws of 1948 and 1949, we should establish
a price support program with enough flexibility to attract the production
of needed supplies of essential commodities and to stimulate the consumption
of those commodities that are flooding American markets. Transition to
modernized parity must be accomplished gradually. In no case should there
be an abrupt downward change in the dollar level or in the percentage level
of price supports.

Next Monday I shall transmit to the Congress my detailed recommendations
embodying this approach. They have been developed through the cooperation
of innumerable individuals vitally interested in agriculture. My special
message on Monday will briefly describe the consultative and advisory processes
to which this whole program has been subjected during the past ten months.

I have chosen this farm program because it will build markets, protect
the consumers' food supply, and move food into consumption instead of into
storage. It is a program that will remove the threat to the farmer of these
overhanging surpluses, a program, also, that will stimulate production
when a commodity is scarce and encourage consumption when nature is bountiful.
Moreover, it will promote the individual freedom, responsibility, and initiative
which distinguish American agriculture. And, by helping our agriculture
achieve full parity in the market, it promises our farmers a higher and
steadier financial return over the years than any alternative plan.

CONSERVATION

Part of our Nation's precious heritage is its natural resources. It
is the common responsibility of Federal, state, and local governments to
improve and develop them, always working in the closest harmony and partnership.

All Federal conservation and resource development projects are being
reappraised. Sound projects now under way will be continued. New projects
in which the Federal Government has a part must be economically sound,
with local sharing of cost wherever appropriate and feasible. In the next
fiscal year work will be started on twenty-three projects that meet these
standards. The Federal Government will continue to construct and operate
economically sound flood control, power, irrigation and water supply projects
wherever these projects are beyond the capacity of local initiative, public
or private, and consistent with the needs of the whole Nation.

Our conservation program will also take into account the important role
played by farmers in protecting our soil resources. I recommend enactment
of legislation to strengthen agricultural conservation and upstream flood
prevention work, and to achieve a better balance with major flood control
structures in the down-stream areas.

Recommendations will be made from time to time for the adoption of:

A uniform and consistent water resources policy;

A revised public lands policy; and

A sound program for safeguarding the domestic production of critical
and strategic metals and minerals.

In addition we shall continue to protect and improve our national forests,
parks, monuments and other natural and historic sites, as well as our fishery
and wildlife resources. I hope that pending legislation to improve the
conservation and management of publicly-owned grazing lands in national
forests will soon be approved by the Congress.

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

To protect the vital interest of every citizen in a safe and adequate
highway system, the Federal Government is continuing its central role in
the Federal Aid Highway Program. So that maximum progress can be made to
overcome present inadequacies in the Interstate Highway System, we must
continue the Federal gasoline tax at two cents per gallon. This will require
cancellation of the ?? decrease which otherwise will become effective April
1st, and will maintain revenues so that an expanded highway program can
be undertaken.

When the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations completes its study
of the present system of financing highway construction, I shall promptly
submit it for consideration by the Congress and the governors of the states.

POST OFFICE

It is apparent that the substantial savings already made, and to be
made, by the Post Office Department cannot eliminate the postal deficit.
I recommend, therefore, that the Congress approve the bill now pending
in the House of Representatives providing for the adjustment of certain
postal rates. To handle the long term aspects of this, I also recommend
that the Congress create a permanent commission to establish fair and reasonable
postal rates from time to time in the future.

III. HUMAN PROBLEMS

Along with the protection of freedom and maintenance of a strong and
growing economy, this Administration recognizes a third great purpose of
government: concern for the human problems of our citizens. In a modern
industrial society, banishment of destitution and cushioning the shock
of personal disaster on the individual are proper concerns of all levels
of government, including the federal government. This is especially true
where remedy and prevention alike are beyond the individual's capacity.

LABOR AND WELFARE

Of the many problems in this area, those I shall first discuss are of
particular concern to the members of our great labor force, who with their
heads, hearts and hands produce so much of the wealth of our country.

Protection against the hazards of temporary unemployment should be extended
to some 6? millions of workers, including civilian Federal workers, who
now lack this safeguard. Moreover, the Secretary of Labor is making available
to the states studies and recommendations in the fields of weekly benefits,
periods of protection and extension of coverage. The Economic Report will
consider the related matter of minimum wages and their coverage.

The Labor Management Relations Act of 3947 is basically a sound law.
However, six years of experience have revealed that in some respects it
can be improved. On January 11, I shall forward to the Congress suggestions
for changes designed to reinforce the basic objectives of the Act.

Our basic social security program, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance
system, to which individuals contribute during their productive years and
receive benefits based on previous earnings, is designed to shield them
from destitution. Last year I recommended extension of the social insurance
system to include more than 10,000,000 additional persons. I ask that this
extension soon be accomplished. This and other major improvements in the
insurance system will bring substantial benefit increases and broaden the
membership of the insurance system, thus diminishing the need for Federal
grants-in-aid for such purposes. A new formula will therefore be proposed,
permitting progressive reduction in such grants as the need for them declines.

Federal grant-in-aid welfare programs, now based on widely varying formulas,
should be simplified. Concrete proposals on fourteen of them will be suggested
to the appropriate Committees.

The program for rehabilitation of the disabled especially needs strengthening.
Through special vocational training, this program presently returns each
year some 60,000 handicapped individuals to productive work. Far more disabled
people can be saved each year from idleness and dependence if this program
is gradually increased. My more detailed recommendations on this and the
other social insurance problems I have mentioned will be sent to the Congress
on January 14th.

HEALTH

I am flatly opposed to the socialization of medicine. The great need
for hospital and medical services can best be met by the initiative of
private plans. But it is unfortunately a fact that medical costs are rising
and already impose severe hardships on many families. The Federal Government
can do many helpful things and still carefully avoid the socialization
of medicine.

The Federal Government should encourage medical research in its battle
with such mortal diseases as cancer and heart ailments, and should continue
to help the states in their health and rehabilitation programs. The present
Hospital Survey and Construction Act should be broadened in order to assist
in the development of adequate facilities for the chronically ill, and
to encourage the construction of diagnostic centers, rehabilitation facilities,
and nursing homes. The war on disease also needs a better working relationship
between Government and private initiative. Private and non-profit hospital
and medical insurance plans are already in the field, soundly based on
the experience and initiative of the people in their various communities.

A limited Government reinsurance service would permit the private and
non-profit insurance companies to offer broader protection to more of the
many families which want and should have it. On January 18 I shall forward
to the Congress a special message presenting this Administration's health
program in its detail.

EDUCATION

Youth--our greatest resource--is being seriously neglected in a vital
respect. The nation as a whole is not preparing teachers or building schools
fast enough to keep up with the increase in our population.

The preparation of teachers as, indeed, the control and direction of
public education policy, is a state and local responsibility. However,
the Federal Government should stand ready to assist states which demonstrably
cannot provide sufficient school buildings. In order to appraise the needs,
I hope that this year a conference on education will be held in each state,
culminating in a national conference. From these conferences on education,
every level of government--from the Federal Government to each local school
board--should gain the information with which to attack this serious problem.

HOUSING

The details of a program to enlarge and improve the opportunities for
our people to acquire good homes will be presented to the Congress by special
message on January

This program will include:

Modernization of the home mortgage insurance program of the Federal
Government;

Redirection of the present system of loans and grants-in-aid to cities
for slum clearance and redevelopment;

Extension of the advantages of insured lending to private credit engaged
in this task of rehabilitating obsolete neighborhoods;

Insurance of long-term, mortgage loans, with small down payment for
low-income families; and, until alternative programs prove more effective,

Continuation of the public housing program adopted in the Housing Act
of 1949.

If the individual, the community, the State and federal governments
will alike apply themselves, every American family can have a decent home.

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

The internal reorganization of the Veterans Administration is proceeding
with my full approval. When completed, it will afford a single agency whose
services, including medical facilities, will be better adapted to the needs
of those 20,000,000 veterans to whom this Nation owes so much.

SUFFRAGE

My few remaining recommendations all relate to a basic right of our
citizens--that of being represented in the decisions of the government.

I hope that the States will cooperate with the Congress in adopting
uniform standards in their voting laws that will make it possible for our
citizens in the armed forces overseas to vote.

In the District of Columbia the time is long overdue for granting national
suffrage to its citizens and also applying the principle of local self-government
to the Nation's Capital. I urge the Congress to move promptly in this direction
and also to revise District revenue measures to provide needed public works
improvements.

The people of Hawaii are ready for statehood. I renew my request for
this legislation in order that Hawaii may elect its State officials and
its representatives in Washington along with the rest of the country this
fall.

For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of
peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the
political process that produces this fateful summons. I urge Congress to
propose to the States a constitutional amendment permitting citizens to
vote when they reach the age of 18.

CONCLUSION

I want to add one final word about the general purport of these many
recommendations.

Our government's powers are wisely limited by the Constitution; but
quite apart from those limitations, there are things which no government
can do or should try to do.

A government can strive, as ours is striving, to maintain an economic
system whose doors are open to enterprise and ambition--those personal
qualities on which economic growth largely depends. But enterprise and
ambition are qualities which no government can supply. Fortunately no American
government need concern itself on this score; our people have these qualities
in good measure.

A government can sincerely strive for peace, as ours is striving, and
ask its people to make sacrifices for the sake of peace. But no government
can place peace in the hearts of foreign rulers. It is our duty then to
ourselves and to freedom itself to remain strong in all those ways--spiritual,
economic, military--that will give us maximum safety against the possibility
of aggressive action by others.

No government can inoculate its people against the fatal materialism
that plagues our age. Happily, our people, though blessed with more material
goods than any people in history, have always reserved their first allegiance
to the kingdom of the spirit, which is the true source of that freedom
we value above all material things.

But a government can try, as ours tries, to sense the deepest aspirations
of the people, and to express them in political action at home and abroad.
So long as action and aspiration humbly and earnestly seek favor in the
sight of the Almighty, there is no end to America's forward road; there
is no obstacle on it she will not surmount in her march toward a lasting
peace in a free and prosperous world.